Our Fire and how you can help...

One Wednesday, April 13th the apartment below ours caught fire. The fire spread to our apartment destroying most everything in our bedroom and the kids bedroom. What wasn't destroyed by flames was damaged by water and smoke. Our family has been overwhelmed by the generosity of the people around us. We have had people give us gift cards, money, physical help, and prayers. We appreciate it all so much. We have had a lot of people ask about items we need. So I am putting this list together for anyone who might be able to help with the lost items/things that would help.

• 4 twin size mattresses
• 1 full or queen size mattress
• Boys socks (size 9, sizes 11, 12)
• Boys undies (size 3T, size 4-5T)
• Girls socks (size 1)
• Girls undies (size 6 or 7)
• Crayons, Markers, Colored Pencils
• Boys shirts (size 3T)
• Boys pants/shorts (size 3T, 4T-6T)
• Various sewing notions (seam rippers, tailors chalk, etc)
  
• Kids DVD's
  
• Kitchen table (seats 10-12)
• Sleeping bags
• Baby wipes

Also, my amazing friend Vanessa is selling some prints to benefit our family!


All of the kids toys were saved, so we are good on that front. Things keep coming to me as more time passes so I will keep this list updated. If you would like to donate a gift card it would be amazing to have them from Target (we have to buy all new toiletries, cleaners, etc) or Ikea (my lovely aunt will be driving a truck load down in mid May).

Even if you have nothing physical to help we appreciate prayers, thoughts, good vibes, etc. A fire is a traumatic experience, especially for kids. They just had to sit and watch the whole thing take place.

We are currently staying at my parents house, and are actively seeking a place to rent. If you know of anything please give us a heads up. We need (at least) 3 bedrooms and are looking to live in either Midtown, Northeast, or Raytown. Gardening area is a plus :)

Again, we appreciate everyone who has been there for us in one way or another, I am so thankful for you all. Thank you so much! If you have questions or want the address we are currently located at please email me emily.soulliere(at)gmail.com

Falling behind...

I have seriously fallen behind in my whole "blog more" goal. And, Its not even that I dont have anything going on in my life. There is plenty going on around here....I just haven't been writing about it.

Here is a quick overview of what's been going on....

• I got to spend a great weekend in Oklahoma at the beginning of the month. I got to totally surprise Vanessa! Cory kept the kids and we got to just run around drinking copious amounts of coffee and tea! I love this picture from Vanessa's flickr!

• Christian agreed that a serger would be a good investment. So we found the perfect one of craigslist!

• My parents bought the cutest baby goat you have ever seen!

• My sister is moving back to Raytown this week! I am pretty excited to have my movie buddy back. (I dont envy her list of things to do though)

• Thrift stores have been very kind to me lately. In fact, I think I am going to do a separate post later on just to share my latest thrift store finds.

The weather has been incredible the past few days and it is weird to see people out and about on foot again. The kids and I have enjoyed a couple walks lately and there will be more in the very near future. I even went to stake claims on a garden bed at the Raytown Community Garden this afternoon. Spring is here! and it makes me happy beyond belief. Another benefit of being outside is the smell of roasting coffee! Benettis has opened a roasting location across the street from us. I am in no way shape or form a coffee drinker. I enjoy making Christians coffee, but you wont find me sneaking drinks. But, I do love the smell of roasting coffee!

I am currently working on putting together a list of projects to work on. I have been in a creative funk...or coma might be a better word. So I am going to try to do a couple projects every week, just following tutorials already out there on the interwebs to try to get the creative juices flowing again.

There are a ton of pictures on our flickr page. Having an iPhone has really made picture sharing a lot easier for me.

Sometimes I do a lot of laundry...

I read somewhere a few months back that people who regularly tidy up their houses are usually thinner. Hmmmm...

Saturday morning I left the house around 7:30am to go to the laundromat around the corner from us. While I enjoy my trips to the laundromat, not having a washer and dryer in the apartment is definitely one of the down sides to where we are living right now. The nicest thing about using the laundromat (besides the amazing customer service, no, that wasn't sarcasm) is the ability to get my whole families weekly laundry done in under 2hrs. I just load up the biggest machine they have (whom I have loving deemed "Big Bertha") and read. 24 minutes later I shove it all in the dryer, and head out on foot to Benettis where I sip on tea and read until my load should be done. This is my laundry routine, and this Saturday was no exception.

When I got home, folded laundry in hand, I was surprised to find christian in the boys room. He was running the vacuum, the final step in the daunting task that had been cleaning that room. Now, this was no ordinary room spruce up. This room was trashed. And had been. For weeks. (Now you see where I am connecting my opening thought? I totally prove whomever said this to be correct)Our friends Cory and Vanessa (and their three kids) came in to visit over New Years. We all had a wonderful time! The kids played, and played, and played, having full reign on the boys bedroom. Based on mess to fun ratio...the fun was intense! And yes, I put off and put off cleaning. Meaning the original mess had multiplied to a number I cant even count to. Almost a month later the cleaning finally got done, only, I might add, because my husband took the initiative. We also went ahead and cleaned out Syds room as well collecting a trash bag of stuff to donate, and created a little reading nook for her. In the course of cleaning the kids rooms we had another full basket of dirty laundry.

So...remember that laundry routine? Yep, I repeated that Sat afternoon. Which was actually a good thing. I went ahead and washed all the kids coats and some other random household items that were in need. I was also joined at Benettis by my friend Cassie.

Last night Christian and I started watching The Walking Dead. He sat and worked on some sketches and I started working on a secret project, that I am excited and nervous about. Here is a sneak peak...

Yeah...that really doesn't show you much of anything. Sorry. This project is actually turning out to be a bigger pain that I had originally thought it would be.

You can always check out more of what we are doing in our family flickr stream!

Life Changes...

In September of 2010 Christian and I made the hard decision to bid our house (and yard) farewell.

It was a necessary step for our families survival. Luckily we were able to find an apartment in Raytown, a mere 3 miles

from our house. The move was quick and rather painless. Although, I will say that I feared for my fathers life

as he tried to maneuver our couch up our full flight of outdoor steps that lead to our apartment.

Though the move itself was more or less painless, the transition from house to apartment, with 4 kids has been

more of a process. I will eventually share these transitions in this blog. I will also use it as an emotional outlet when

one is needed. I am sure that projects, school talk, and recipes will find their way here too. So, this is my ice breaking post.

Hope you will stick around.